New Zealand has long history of attacks on statues

Tuesday, 16 June 2020

A statue of Sir George Grey in Auckland's Albert Park was vandalised on Monday.

Nearly a quarter of New Zealand's public statues have been attacked, defaced or stolen – some multiple times, a study has found.

A range of weapons have been used in attacks on public statues over recent decades across the country including an axe, a concrete cutter a hammer and paint.

Researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington examined all 123 statues of named individuals identified on outdoor public land in New Zealand during a survey in 2018 and 2019, and found almost a quarter had been attacked at least once.

The attacks are often quite violent. Six statues have been decapitated a total of 11 times, while three were completely destroyed in attacks. Others have had noses cut off or been splattered with red, blue or gold paint.

Protestors surround the statue of Richard Seddon during a protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on June 14 in Wellington.

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The statue of Captain James Cook in central Christchurch's Victoria Square.

The statue subject’s role in past injustices and militarism appeared to increase the risk of attack, lead researcher professor Nick Wilson said.

Examples of attacked statues over the years include the statue of King George V in Matakana, which has been decapitated five times. A statue of World War I military leader Field Marshal Kitchener in Auckland, which was decapitated in 1931, was taken down and never replaced.

People clapped and cheered as the statue of Captain Hamilton was removed in Civic Square, Wellington on Friday.

An anti-war demonstrator attempted to topple a new bronze statue of military hero Charles Upham in Amberley in North Canterbury with a concrete cutter and was stopped by people nearby.

A statue of military leader Admiral Sir Gordon Tait was stolen from Timaru and never recovered.

The study is thought to be the first in the world to systematically examine attacks on public statues over a whole country.

There are no recorded attacks on statues of sports players. Statues of royalty, military personnel, politicians, explorers, and those involved in colonialism and harm to Māori were much more likely to be attacked, the study found.

The researchers found statues mostly represented historical and current power, many were of white males, and underrepresented of women, Māori, Pacific and Asian people.

Six per cent of statues are of Māori, despite Māori comprising 15 per cent of the population, and 1 per cent each commemorated those of Asian or Pacific ethnicity, despite them making up 12 per cent and 7 per cent of the population respectively.

The statue of rugby star Sir Michael Jones in Eden Park in Auckland was the only statue of a person with Pacific ethnicity identified in the survey.

However, the study does not include a number of famous Māori leaders whose statues are located on marae, as the research was focused solely on public settings.

Wilson said removal may be appropriate action for a number of statues including Sir George Grey in Auckland and John Ballance in Whanganui – both active in the colonial wars – Edward Gibbon Wakefield in Wellington, who was a colonialist and imprisoned for child abduction, Field Marshal Kitchener, who established concentration camps in the South African War and Lord Auckland, who was a colonial figure involved in an invasion of Afghanistan and whose statue was imported to Auckland City when India wanted it removed.

Such attacks would be less likely if governments better dealt with the ongoing consequences of colonialism and inequality, Wilson said.

“Instead of statues, we could have more memorial libraries, sports centres, parks, gardens or even single memorial trees,” he said.